


Punishment was always so simple (until now)

by Zaligard



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Assassin Damian Wayne, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian isn’t as much of a little shit, Damian never left the league, First fanfic!, Forgot that one..., Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jason Todd is a good brother, Jason is a Dork, Jon Kent doesn’t come until later on, Self-Harm, Selina Kyle is best mom, Some bad guys FINALLY FRICKING DIE, Tim and Damian WILL get along eventually even if I have to force them!, Torture, but he is such a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24734944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaligard/pseuds/Zaligard
Summary: Damian never left the league, and now at 14 years of age he is sent on a mission to clean up Gothem City no matter the cost. A partnership with the Red Hood doesn’t go according to plan, and Damian is left with two options. Return to the league and accept his punishment for his failure, or stay in Gothem and put everything at risk for the sake of some newfound family.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 10
Kudos: 75





	1. Chapter 1

The city air was disgusting.  
Damian had been on missions in areas of less than ideal air quality before, but the streets of Gothem were almost comparable to the toxic waste he had been forced to inhale during his training. He fiercely remembered the burning in his lungs when he first underwent that particular exercise, but he supposed he was great full for it. The mission would be much harder to complete with his lungs having to adjust so drastically to the city’s heavy atmosphere.  
The mission Damian was currently on was of the upmost importance. His grandfather, Ra’s Al Ghul, had personally bestowed it upon him, and Damian had been preparing for it months in advance in order to make sure everything went off perfectly. Gothem was filled with crime and unnecessary pollution. Honestly the more time Damian spent there the easier it was to see how right his grandfather was on how hopeless human kind was. They were destroying the ecosystem with useless buildings that did nothing but further the power of the wealthy and leaving the poor to have to resort to crime simply to survive. Honestly it was quite pathetic. Gothem was famous for vigilantes, specifically the bat which his grandfather spoke so highly about. Damian himself has studied hours upon hours of videos from the man himself in attempt to memorize his fighting pattern and techniques, and he had to admit that the bat was extremely impressive. A few years before Damian might have underestimated him due to the bat holding back to ensure death did not occur to his opponents, but now Damian could see without a doubt the amount of skill and precision between each strike of the bat. Still, looking at the city Damian found his respect for the bat slipping. All those fancy tools and beating up criminals and yet he still had no clue how to fix the problem. It was almost as if the bat believed people stayed in this city out of some sort of affection for it. It honestly puzzled Damian as to how anyone would feel affection for this raging toxic junk yard, and he knew that the only reason why most people probably still lived here was due to the cheap rent, while the rich stayed simply to reap the benefits of the poor. It was a broken city with a broken system, and Damian was here to fix it. Fixing the most crime ridden city in some people’s eyes might not seem like a suitable task for a mere 14 year old boy, but Ra’s had personally given Damian this mission. It took all these years for him to be deemed ready, years of harsh training. He couldn’t fail. He wouldn’t fail, because if being the heir to the demon taught him anything, it was that failure was not an option. It was victory or death, and not a peaceful death at that.  
Damian took a deep breath and ran through the plan in his head as he rushed through the shadows to a safe house he had previously picked. The first thing that he had to do to make the city the least bit bearable was the crime. He wasn’t going to deal with it as those idiots in costumes did though. Most crime here was done by the poor to gain money, and Damian didn’t plan on simply punching the less fortunate and locking them away. He would have to deal with those criminals later, the real first manner of businesses were the other criminals. The criminals that the bat so desperately refused to kill. Yet again, the bat utterly confused Damian. With Gotham’s more serious villains they would always be captured before being sent to Arkam, and then break out and kill more people. It wasn’t as if killing someone was hard, Damian had done it when he was 3, so a grown man with so many fighting styles under his belt should be able to do the same easily. Damian wasn’t stupid, he knew that if the bat wished, he could kill every villain in Gothem, and more, but he wouldn’t because of his code of honor or whatever. If he wasn’t going to kill them could he at least have gotten some higher security for the asylum? Or better therapists? That place was less of an asylum, and more a temporary jail cell with rusty and bent bars. The bat obviously had enough money to do some real actual help, and yet he spent it on trivial bat themed objects like they were collectibles. Honestly, bat shark repellent? At the very least the bat did some good as Bruce Wayne, but it was no where near what he could do if he put his money elsewhere. He knew that Ra’s would want the bat to be on their side, but they both knew that he would never agree with Ra’s methods. Unfortunately that makes the bat the biggest threat to Damian’s plan. They might have the same goal, but the bat would most likely group him in with the rest of Gotham’s villains, and if Damian got sent to Arkham, while there was no doubt that he could escape, the mere thought of the torture that would be awaiting him when he returned to the league was almost enough to make Damian shudder. No, Damian would need to stay as far away from the bat as possible as he carried out his mission, but considering that Damian wouldn’t be able to make any progress with the mission until the worst of Gotham’s criminals were out of the way, it would be impossible to not at least alert the bat to his presence.  
Arriving at the safe house, Damian quickly hoped in. It was an abandoned place no where near any of the vigilantes patrol routes, yet still close to the more crime infested parts of the city.  
Taking a quick stock of the room, and wrinkling his nose at the moth eaten mattress on the bed, Damian unpacked his belongings and began his prep for phase one of his plan. Batman would find him in no time if he simply went straight to killing the criminals of Gothem, no, he needed allies that knew the city and the bat better than anyone, and Damian knew just who to start with.


	2. Chapter 2

‘Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go straight to Jason Todd’ Damian thought as he stared at the barrel of gun pointed inches away from his face.

The Red Hood on one hand had information on the Bat that would be incredibly valuable, he knew the city layout, he had a connection with the league (that his mother refused to talk about for some reason), and his morals on killing criminals was much looser than any of the other bats, but on the other hand, Jason had the shoot first ask questions later mentality that would make him a bit hard to work with. 

That didn’t really matter to Damian however. He was just using Jason to ensure the mission went off without a hitch. The league had taught him firsthand in manipulation. Trust wasn’t an option, they would simply betray you eventually. 

“You’re with the league aren’t you?” Jason stated.

“Yes, I am,” Damian replied. Better to only answer the direct questions to avoid giving out too much information.

“What do you want, did Talía send you? If so you can tell her to fuck right the hell off,” he sneered

That... wasn’t actually expected. His mother had never explicitly told Damian what had happened when Jason was in the league, but she seemed to think fondly of him. No time to wonder why Jason’s reaction was so different though, quick bump in the plan, but other than that no big deals”

“No, she didn’t. I am here on other business that I might ask for your aid in.” Right to the point, and avoiding details should Jason refuse and go against him.

“Right. A league of assassins member just shows up on the doorstep of one of my house, and needs my help. Nice try kid, you can go and tell that bitch to leave me the fuck alone, I want nothing to do with her.”

Damian stiffened. Did this man actually just dare to call his mother a bitch? And kid? Damian was 14 years old, and the grandchild of the demon! In less that a minute Jason has already stated things that would get his head immediately chopped off in the league, and that’s not even mentioning the gun still pointed to his head.

Damian took a deep internal breath before replying in a clipped tone.   
“I’m not here because of her, I’m here on a mission.”

“Uh-huh, and what is this so called mission you are on?” Jason asked, his finger still on the tigger, but more relaxed. Damian supposed that was a good thing, and least now he would have some time to dodge should Jason shoot.

“To clean up this mess of a city. I am aware of your... situation with a certain criminal, and it would be beneficial to the mission to have your aid in taking him out.”

Jason genuinely looked interested now behind his domino mask. His finger slipped off the tigger entirely, and his arm slightly relaxed.

“The Joker? You want to kill the Joker?”

“Yes, and I know you want him dead as well.”

“What makes you think I would join you? I would rather just murder him myself rather than join with some grunt.”

Grunt!?! To call Damian, heir to the Demon, top trained assassin since birth, a mere grunt? Why he ought to- no, Damian was here to make an “ally,” having the Red Hood on his tail, now with the knowledge that he was going after Joker, would not be good for the plan at all. He could deal with this calmly.

“Like you could kill him without me. Face it, if you could he would already be dead.”

Ah shit, that wasn’t right. Damian internally scolded himself. If this failed the alliance the mission had a higher chance of failing, and if the mission failed then Damian failed, and Damian can’t fail. How badly would Damian be beaten if he failed a mission his important not even a day into it? His grandfather would be livid. If he didn’t simply torture and execute Damian right away, he would- actually Damian doesn’t know what he would do. Normally if Damian didn’t preform to peak performance on a mission he was beaten. Messing up? Ruining a missions chance of success? Failing? Unacceptable. He would be killed. Nothing a dip on the Lazarus pit couldn’t fix, but being bathed in the water was always a horrifying experience no matter the times he has been bathed in, or been forced to drink the water.

Jason laughed and put down the gun.The imbecile had the audacity to laugh.

“I like your spunk kid. I’ll humor you, suppose I can’t do it, what could you offer me?

Damian almost let the surprise flicker across his face. That was... not the reaction he expected. If one insulted another assassin in that way back at the league, it would immediately be thrown into a death match. At least that was how it worked with the lower levels. Since Damian was of such high class he could get away with calling those in superior to him out on it with no consequences. It was even encouraged by his grandfather to remind them of their place, but Jason didn’t know Damian. Jason thought Damian was of a lower rank as evident by his grunt comment. It didn’t matter much he supposed, the mission was still safe, that was all that mattered.

“I can offer a plan, and the resources to complete it. All you need to do is act with me and help fill in a few gaps.”

“Right. I must say I’m intrigued, probably not the best idea to talk about murder plans out here in the open high?”  
Jason turned and walked through the door without even looking. He just turned his back to Damian. It would be so easy to plunge a knife through his neck from here, and Jason just turns around? Did the man have a death wise? 

Damian glanced around the frame for a few seconds before carefully taking one step closer, scouring for traps subtlety. He got the feeling that Jason still got suspicious despite this as he raised an eyebrow, yet said nothing to Damian’s actions.

Taking a seat at the small stained table, Jason relaxed in the chair and nodded to the one opposite to him. Damian sat down stiffly, not willing to touch anything that wasn’t necessary. He was acutely aware of the gun still in Jason’s lap. The vigilante might have allowed Damian into his house and turn his back, but he wasn’t stupid enough to leave himself undefended. That was reassuring at the very least that he wasn’t completely brain dead.

“So,” Jason started. “Tell me about these plans.”

This was too easy. Jason was so simply to manipulate due to his hate of the Joker. An offer of revenge and Jason allowed him knot the house. Of course, he hasn’t agreed yet, but it was unlikely he would without hearing the plan first, so this was just a calculated risk Damian had to take. It was unlikely he would say no, but if he should Damian would just need to go to Plan B, it would be fine. The mission was going fine.

Damian pulled some files out of the bag he carried with him, and sprawled them across the table.

“We have a lot of work to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay Jason! Love his sass, but can’t write it for shit!  
> He’s smart, and he’s not just going to go with whatever Damian says. Both of them at this point are kinda just trying to use the other.  
> Note! Damian isn’t as aggressive here as he is... everywhere else because he is trying to make a decent impression to get Jason to work with him. I also tried to explain why Damian acts the way he does, and it’s a mix of that’s how he was brought up, and a bit of something else that was hinted here.   
> Anyways, thanks for reading, stay safe, and have a lovely day/night!  
> See you tomorrow!

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is short, I know, I’m sorry! It’ll get longer I promise!  
> I... have no clue how the plot is going to go. I honestly should have thought this through a lot more XD  
> I will TRY to update at a good rate, but no promises. This is my first time trying to write this kid a stuff so...  
> Yeah! Hope you guys like it!


End file.
